Real Madrid to provide Barcelona competition for Ousmane Dembele

According to sensational reports from the Catalan broadcaster RAC 1, Real Madrid have joined Barcelona in the race to sign Borussia Dortmund attacker Ousmane Dembele.

Barcelona were dealt with a huge shock after Neymar decided to join Paris Saint-Germain and while the Catalans did receive a whopping £198million from the sale of the Brazilian superstar, they are facing a really tough time in bringing a replacement for their former star.

The Spanish giants have been pursuing the services of Philippe Coutinho and despite the player recently handing in a transfer request, Liverpool have firmly stated that they will not look to sell the Brazilian playmaker.

Although Liverpool might just be forced into selling Coutinho, Barcelona will have to pay over the odds as recent reports have claimed that the Reds have set an asking price of around £137 million for the 25-year-old.

As an alternative option to Coutinho, Barcelona are also interested in signing Borussia Dortmund star Ousmane Dembele and although the Frenchman will not come cheap as well, it seems like the Bundesliga side are more open to negotiations over the sale of the youngster than Liverpool are with their star.

In addition, Dembele has made it no secret of his desire to join Barcelona and even missed training without permission, which led him to be fined a week’s wages as well as got him suspended.

Just when it looked like Barcelona would be able to sign Dembele, they have apparently been handed another huge blow with the news that even Real Madrid have joined them in the race to sign the 21-year-old.

Madrid have been strongly pursuing the services of Monaco wonderkid Kylian Mbappe but it looks like the French champions will be looking to keep hold of the youngster and now according to Catalan broadcaster RAC 1, Los Blancos have set their attention towards signing Dembele as an contingency plan.

Both Madrid and Barcelona clearly have the financial resources to sign Dembele and it will be interesting to see where the attacker eventually ends up this summer.